Popular reviews

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  Review by Michael Shawn ★★

  Kay Francis can do very little to enliven this poorly paced, listless and dull picture about an uncompromising tabloid editor (George Bancroft) whose wife (Francis) is involved in an illicit affair. Much of the blame for the film's tedium must be placed at Bancroft's feet for the complete lack of color in his interpretation of the role. He has a wicked monotone that instantly lulls you to sleep, droning endlessly and without any changes in level or tone. It also doesn't help that he's supposedly the hero of this story, being painted as sacrificing for his wife early in the film, but it doesn't work. He's ruthless in his job and with other people, and it just paints him as…

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  Review by matnol9 ★★★

  An early pre-code drama has George Bancroft as a headstrong managing editor who is loyal to his motto “Getting the news is his identity...printing the news is his creed.” And doesn’t concern him one way or another how the news will tragically affect others.

  The pace is a little slow moving...the acting is a bit stilted and bland at times...except for Kay Francis she plays Bancroft’s elegantly dressed stay at home wife...wow..and she has a way of enliven up a scene or screen...she is also secretly carrying on an affair with the couple’s bank president friend Clive Brook...who just learned his bank has issued some underwriting shares illegally into the market, and his bank needs to discreetly raise capital to repurchase…

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  Review by SpaceCadetJuan ★★ 2

  67 Despite the salacious premise, this turned out to be a dud. There’s adultery, cold-bloodedness and moral quandaries, but it comes off dispassionate, with a lot of talking by stiff actors. I feel like someone with talent could take this same basic plot and make something much more powerful. What a pity.

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  Review by Nora MacIntyre ★★½

  Another pejorative spin on journalism from Paramount, but unlike its predecessor GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS, this one ramps up the villainy in its main character to paint an even more scathing portrait of the industry. And once again, Kay plays a philandering vamp who unfairly receives the brunt of the blame for her beau's pathological issues in a deeply anti-feminist slant.

  The first twenty minutes sans Kay are insufferably boring, and basically used exclusively just to showcase of much of a self-righteous, heartless jackass George Bancroft in. He's a bloodthirsty newspaper who ruthlessly disparages anybody and everybody in order to boost his own career. Naturally, this wins him a fair deal of enemies, including his wife (Francis), who is miserable…

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  Review by PUNQ ★★★

  George Bancroft is a ruthlessly fair newspaper editor. Loves scandal, but he's no hypocrite. Not even when he finds out his own wife Kay Francis is involved with banker Clive Brook. The plot and atmosphere is a little dreary, but the natural approach from the actors make this an honest and highly respectable showcase.

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  Review by Beautifulkiller ★★½

  Kay Francis stars with George Bancroft, Regis Toomey, and Clive Brook in "Scandal Sheet" from 1931.

  Francis plays Edith Flint, the wife of aggressive news editor Mark Flint (Bancroft) who doesn't care whom he hurts by printing stories. The paper has a decidedly tabloid bend to it. Though he seems to adore his wife, the paper is his obsession.

  As a result, Edith has been having an affair with a banker (Brook). He demands a commitment from her, and she asks for 24 hours to make a decision. During that time, Brook learns that he's about to become the subject of one of Bancroft's stories.

  I'm afraid I did not have the same reaction as the IMDb crowd, who loved…

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  Review by joelnox ★★½

  Decent precode about a jackal of a newspaper editor with a taste for the jugular who gets his comeuppance when trouble comes home to roost.